Many Evangelicals hold that the Apocalypse lies just ahead. Could radical Islam be the catalyst to trigger last days’ events?

Four breakout Christian apologists, no strangers to “fringe” topics, take a radical look at Cosmology based on new discoveries in physics and unconventional insights into the Bible. "From the unbridled quest to exploit quantum science to engaging supernatural entities ... a mind-blowing exposé of the Cosmos." Paul McGuire, The Paul McGuire Report

S. Douglas Woodward tackles the turbulent and tense relationship between Russia and the US as the backdrop to Ezekiel’s famed prophecy—the “Battle of Gog and Magog.” The author argues the specter of nuclear war looms as prelude to the prophesied war when Gog gathers his great army to attack Israel. Woodward builds upon scores of timely articles composed by respected journalists and research papers written by geopolitical experts who study the Middle East, compiling their findings and documenting why a great war may explode in the days just ahead as a result of Islamic terror, Russian militarism, and failed U.S. policies toward Iran, Iraq, Israel, and most recently the fight against ISIS in Syria. Woodward challenges popular prophetic teachings arguing the next war in the Middle East is not the “Psalm 83 War,” why Russia and not Turkey will be Ezekiel’s Gog, why advances in Russian weaponry threaten the security of the United States, and how U.S. policy is at fault for today’s instability in Syria and Iraq.

MOST AMERICANS ARE UNAWARE THAT LIFE AS THEY KNOW IT IS ABOUT TO CHANGE—FOREVER. Europe and the U.S. have imposed economic sanctions on Russia in response to the invasion of Russian military forces into eastern Ukraine and Crimea. The Ukraine is immersed in a civil war between pro– and anti-Russian factions. Heading into its second year, the U.S. and Russia are entangled in a dangerous war of words escalating to include deployment of further American military forces in Eastern Europe. What’s more concerning: Russia has dedicated 2,000 tactical “nukes” to this arena and announced the deployment of 40 new strategic ballistic missiles capable of striking America’s homeland. Russia sees itself under attack from the U.S. on all fronts—and running out of time. Will this apprehension trigger nuclear war in Europe? Will it cause Russia to launch nuclear missiles targeting the United States? Could this happen within just a few short years? Or sooner?

The topic of eschatology, or the study of last things, is as confusing as it is enthralling. Books devoted to the study of Bible prophecy often don't take into consideration that there are multiple points of view and the right one is far from obvious. In S. Douglas Woodward's first book, Are We Living in the Last Days? What Christians Believe about the Apocalypse, he identifies the primary points of debate between Christians in the 21st century. He covers the three predominant views of Protestants on each topic and encourages the reader to "think for themselves" to decide what they believe about prophecy. Over the past five years, Woodward has earned a reputation for tackling tough issues with a thoroughness to detail and pertinent documentation to convince the dubious.

As a nation, we have steadily progressed through this darkened passageway since World War II, in part due to the presence and influence of hundreds of Nazis who were invited into America after the war. Woodward asks, “Has America become the equivalent evil empire of the twenty-first century?”

This compelling sequel to Power Quest Book One: America's Obsession with the Paranormal, reveals the hidden history of Nazi infestation of American institutions after World War II. Beginning with the 1952 flying saucer flap over the nation’s capital and concluding with the CIA's clandestine mind control agenda of the 50s-70s, the reader is confronted with highly charged and seldom known facts.

What if the Antichrist were an American leader? What if he were alive today and living in the USA? What if he were only a few years away from revealing himself to the world? Instead of being omitted from Bible prophecy as many of the major eschatology scholars have taught, what if America were at the very center of Bible prophecy? What if the USA, rather than Europe, Rome, or Babylon, was the power base of Satan’s conspiracy against the Kingdom of God?

Do Megalithic Monuments and Books of Ancient Wisdom Predict When the World Will End?

Woodward argues that America stands destined for disaster. The essays cover a broad spectrum of seldom known facts of our national story that tell the unvarnished history of the past two hundred years right up to the present day.

People talk about cats having nine lives. I was beginning to wonder that about myself. Living a life so messed up I tried committing suicide countless times … but never was able to accomplish the gruesome task. I couldn’t even die.
Then I had a life-altering accident. I think there’s something to the saying, “Your time isn’t up until your time is up.” Evidently, God wasn’t ready for my life to end. Sometimes the enemies we have, the world, the flesh, and the devil, want us dead. But it’s God who has the final word on the matter. This is the story of a life that won’t end until God says so. My story is about survival – and God’s miraculous intervention in someone not expected to live.

The original purpose of this book was to make the case that our feet are mechanically designed to run long distances. They are uniquely different from the feet of most other terrestrial creatures. However, it becomes apparent that the rest of our bodies, including our brains and our endocrine systems are all designed to run for hours without stopping...relatively slowly compared to most other creatures that hunt for food or strive not to become another creature’s food…but, yes, we have an ability to keep running for a long time…we are endurance runners.

The idea behind this Gospel Harmony is to blend the four Gospels into a single, coherent, and chronological narrative. This provides a clearer picture and appreciation for the life of Jesus; what He did, when He did it, and what it means for all of us today. This Gospel Harmony is a wonderful tool for personal study and enjoyment of the first four books of the New Testament taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

Covert Catastrophe is an action-packed thriller ripped from today's headlines. A harrowing story of the near future as Oakland Paramedic Jim Sanderson is thrust down into a hidden technological world while responding to a gang shooting, racing ahead of a dark agenda put into motion during the origins of mankind.

This book is the second in a series, picking up from the harrowing action within COVERT CATASTROPHE. Oakland Paramedic Jim Sanderson continues with the Navy Seals, his father Dr. Kepple, Physicist Judy and Justine, and his new bride Laura. Traveling beneath the world's oceans aboard a sentient, artificially intelligent submarine in the form of a 300-foot manta ray, they continue their quest to destroy a group of AQCs (Adiabatic Quantum Computers) networked into CERN and the LHC (Large Hadron Collider). New secret technologies of their own design along with improvised tactics are merged with Jim and Laura’s newly realized quantum entanglement. Each now linked to their personal quantum computers, they must destroy the AQCs before the LHC opens a portal into another dimension, an act designed to terraform planet Earth for a new race of beings hell-bent upon entering our world.

In 1991, the Cold War ended. Yet today’s news is filled with stories of Russian military moves, battles and territorial annexations. A new Cold War has begun. In August 2008, Russia invaded Georgia and annexed Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In March 2014, Russia invaded and annexed Crimea. The Russian military, once considered backward and demoralized, now deploys the world’s most advanced weapons: the Armata Tank, the SS-27 Road Mobile ICBM, and the S-500 ABM. These are weapons with war-winning potential. “The New Tactics of Global War” explains what happened at the end of the Cold War and why Russia remains the number one threat to the United States. Americans never fully understood the old Soviet Union and they are far from understanding today’s Russia. The moves and counter-moves of the present crisis stem from a long-running deception game – the only game Russia’s security structures know how to play. The authors investigate this game, allowing the reader to understand the “mind of the enemy.”

Events now coming to pass are described in detail in Bible Prophecy, yet much of the Bible is in symbolic form and requires interpretation, for the "words were closed up and sealed until the time of the end". (Daniel 12:9) It is little wonder that men who labored to read the sealed prophecies over the many centuries failed to discern the true meaning, for these prophecies have been kept secret until the time of the end. The Day of the LORD is at Hand was written to reveal the clear message of Bible prophecy to the last days church in America, and to help you survive and endure to the end, that you and your household maybe saved from the hour which has finally come upon us. "For as a snare it shall come upon all of them who dwell on the face of the whole earth, watch therefore and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall soon come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man". Jesus Christ - Luke 21:35-46

For years, the extraterrestrial hypothesis has dominated the field of ufology. However, there is another theory that might provide more substantial answers to the UFO phenomenon. In Cherubim Chariots, researcher and author Josh Peck explores the fringe of the extra-dimensional hypothesis to show the stunning possibility that UFOs and their pilots originate from a higher dimension. Discover answers to paradigm-shifting questions

The fact is that the Lord must have us always going on. We are pilgrims and strangers, which means that we shall never come to finality here on this earth. If we are disappointed with what we thought would be the perfect thing, just remember that the Lord is calling us on to go on to something better.

The aim of this collection of excerpts is firstly to highlight the goal of a Christian life. Unfortunately much of the Christian testimony today is centered upon religious ethics that tilt the balance towards what the Apostle Paul calls carnality. Little attention is paid to God’s ‘purpose’ for His people. Thus, many miss the trees for the forest! We live in a day when most believers don’t really have a purpose, nor do they know God’s purpose for saving them and setting them apart. God has a single purpose, not many purposes, and all roads lead to this one single purpose. Everything God plans, and everything He does leads to the fulfillment of this single, over-riding purpose. The Scriptures say, He worketh all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph.1:11b). We are not here to fulfill our own purpose; we are here to fulfill His purpose.

Words can impact our lives in so many ways. They can be both wonderful instruments and deadly weapons at the same time. The tongue or words that come out of our mouths as referred to in the Bible, is a tool that the enemy, Satan, uses each time to deceive, kill and destroy us. If used for good, it can heal and bless others. Our words can make or break us. Learn the truth. Know the consequences of the words you say and what God has to say on matters of the tongue. This book brings awareness of the importance of our words at the Last Judgement. God Himself put much emphasis in the Bible on how we must live. Be guided to discover the power of the tongue!

This book is a brief guide on how to manage worry, stress, and anxiety this fallen world hands us. It is a fact that no one is exempted from experiencing these burdens. All of us has experienced them at one point in our lives. We are not called to bear these things. The Lord offers a remedy, a miracle cure, far better than what human technology can offer. Learn and discover it in this book. This guide will discuss briefly but in a straightforward manner the reasons and effects worry has on us and how to beat it God’s way. You will soon realize that no amount of medicine and worldly security can give peace and contentment in your life; for only God can fill an empty heart. Experience God’s peace in your life like never before. Discover God’s faithfulness as He fulfills every Word and Promises He gave you and receive real happiness and peace you deserve that only God can give. Worry ends where faith in God begins!

Leader Goose is based on the Canadian geese that are seen around the world at state and city parks, lakes, and other places as well. I thought it would be unique if I could bring them to life. This story teaches children the qualities it takes to be a good leader. You will admire this goose as you hear how he tells his story.

Five random short poems about God

I recall years ago my pastor making this challenge to us: 'If you'll commit yourself to reading the entire Notes on the Pentateuch by C.H. MacIntosh, along with  his Miscellaneous Writings, you will become a spiritual man!' I know there is more to becoming a spiritual man, but I took this as a serious challenge to my laziness and lack of a systematic study of God's word. Each morning I took my Notes on the Pentateuch to McDonald's for a breakfast of a sausage biscuit and cup of coffee. I have to admit, there were some times I was reading, but little was actually registering. I often would catch myself realizing I'd just read a whole paragraph and had no idea what I had just read. So, I'd read it again. It took a while, but I read both books cover to cover. I'm not saying I'm a spiritual man, but I am testifying I have an amazing foundation of spiritual understanding and revelation, not only of the first five books of the Bible, but of the entire Bible.

I recall years ago my pastor making this challenge to us: 'If you'll commit yourself to reading the entire Notes on the Pentateuch by C.H. MacIntosh, along with  his Miscellaneous Writings, you will become a spiritual man!' I know there is more to becoming a spiritual man, but I took this as a serious challenge to my laziness and lack of a systematic study of God's word. Each morning I took my Notes on the Pentateuch and Miscellaneous Writings to McDonald's for a breakfast of a sausage biscuit and cup of coffee. I have to admit, there were some times I was reading, but little was actually registering. I often would catch myself realizing I'd just read a whole paragraph and had no idea what I had just read. So, I'd read it again. It took a while, but I read both books cover to cover. I'm not saying I'm a spiritual man, but I am testifying I have an amazing foundation of spiritual understanding and revelation, not only of the first five books of the Bible, but of the entire Bible.

This book contains 365 daily meditations from the writings of T. Austin Sparks who was one of the leading Christian spiritual giants of the 20th century. To all those who want to grow in the knowledge of Christ this book is without comparison. Austin-Sparks emphasizes the centrality and supremacy of Christ, the Church and the Cross. For the serious Christian this is an outstanding collection of spiritual ministry and refreshment. It has been said that to read Sparks is to discover Christ as few men have ever known Him.

The golden chord that runs throughout Sparks’ books is the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ. The object of his ministry was to contribute to the Divine end which is presented in the words of Ephesians 4:13-14: “…till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge (literally full knowledge) of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: that we be no longer children …”

Day by Day with T. Austin-Sparks is a compilation of excerpts from his ministry, a daily meditation - one for each day of the year.

A Call to a Consecrated Life

This is the import of the New Testament historical revelation. The winning of the church, the conversion of the nations, the transfiguring of the universe are the three chief stages in the triumphant course of His redemption. Christ Himself is the first-fruits, the beginning of a new humanity. In harmonious rhythm of ages and periods the Divine economy moves towards its eternal goal. The end of the whole, as its beginning, is God Himself (I Cor. 15:28).

"Of all the books that have issued from this ministry, I regard this one as that which goes most deeply to the roots and foundations of our life in Christ with God."  T. A-S.

The School of Christ by T Austin-Sparks: A series of addresses originally published in A Witness and A Testimony magazine in 1942-43. Vols 20-3 through 21-4.

"The messages are in harmony with — if only a poor echo of — the heart-expression of the Apostle who provides the title — '...whom we proclaim, admonishing every man, and teaching every man ...that we may present every man perfect (complete, entire) in Christ; whereunto I labour...' (Col. 1:28, 29). May this ministry be prospered unto that end."
T. Austin-Sparks
Forest Hill,
London.
1964

Genesis 3:15. "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (I need not remind you that that was addressed to the serpent.)

Revelation 17:14. .”..and they also shall overcome that are with him..."

"That which I believe the Lord has laid on my heart very definitely and strongly for this season of our gathering together is what is represented by those passages, and many others, namely: The Battle for the Throne."
T. Austin-Sparks

The Tavistock Institute for Human Relations has had a profound effect on the moral, spiritual, cultural, political and economic policies of the United States of America and Great Britain. It has been in the front line of the attack on the U.S. Constitution and State constitutions. No group did more to propagandize the U.S. to participate in the WWI at a time when the majority of the American people were opposed to it.

It is time to wake up! And if that means a rude awakening, so be it. It's time for us to get off the fence and decide if we are going to take the Word of God seriously. The warnings to the church of this generation are clearly proclaimed in this series of two messages. Expect to not only have your toes stepped on, but expect some deep and potentially painful spiritual surgery as the Word, the "sharp two-edged sword", cuts away at the soulish cancer that is leading the church into apostasy and the coming judgment and purging. 

This is not your run-of-the-mill rock-you-to-sleep bible lesson - but a terrific revelation and explanation of what is coming and how to prepare for it. The "Day of Visitation" is like a two-edged sword: for some, a great and long awaited blessing and vindication; for others, a potentially fatal and tragic judgment resulting in eternal loss of the inheritance and blessing God intended all of us to receive.

This topic is both difficult and complex in every way. It is difficult because it is unfamiliar to us and complex because it is strenuously opposed by the same powers of darkness.

It is extraordinary how naïve, ignorant and indifferent the church is toward the powers of darkness, despite the fact that this theme is absolutely foundational to the whole calling of the church! It is a perspective that pertains to the whole of reality and of what God is about. The church has characteristically majored in the minors and has ignored this major theme. All of our activity, therefore, is condemned to a certain kind of futility and fruitlessness. We dissipate our energy away and walk on a horizontal level and in an earthly way. Paul reminds us that we wrestle not against flesh and blood:
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12).

This struggle or wrestling is something that is to be entered into by the corporate activity of believers together in Christ. It is ‘our struggle.’ Who are these principalities and powers and the world forces of this darkness in the heavenly places? There is a whole realm of mystery here. The heavenlies that are referred to are not the ones that describe God’s dwelling place. There is a certain order of beings in the very atmosphere who brood over the earth, namely, the rulers or powers of the air. They are the rulers of this present world darkness. They preside in a kind of layer over the earth, and yet influence the conduct of men and the things that take place in the earth.

Art Katz

If someone had asked me in my adolescence in Brooklyn, New York, as a troubled and perplexed kid trying to make sense out of a bewildering universe, "What is your true vocation? What is it to which you think you are called?" I knew, even in my atheistic ignorance, that the real answer, if I had the courage to speak it, was, "Priest." Now I can understand better what my heart already knew about the centrality of priesthood. It is something that needs to be intuited and apprehended.

"I have therefore entitled this message, Preachers of Righteousness. The thing that makes any preacher righteous is that he is not speaking his own word. The word is not his own; it is God’s, and that alone is what makes the word righteous, that the speaker refuses to speak out of his own capability and savvy. It is a phenomenon that has been so little addressed by the church. There is hardly any understanding of the dynamic of the divine things between God and man involved in true proclamation."

The fact that Moses was Jewish, a Levite, and a prince in Egypt counted nothing as qualification for being the deliverer of a nation. However impressive things were humanly, he had to be emptied of them in order to be qualified. It is a remarkable paradox, that in order to be sent of God, we have to be emptied first of our qualification."

"There is a special promise made for the meek that is not given to any other, “The meek shall inherit the earth.” Indeed, the Lord’s own death on the Cross as well as His whole earthly life is a statement of that meekness and humility. Just His coming in the form of man is a humiliation for God. He was confined in a body, limited to a finite form, and fixed in very narrow place within Israel, from Galilee to Jerusalem, for His thirty-three years. His whole life had to be expressed and developed within the confines of one small geographic piece of His own creation. In only three-and-a-half years, and by His own example, He had to express and set forth a mode of being that would be given to mankind as a basis for all the days that are left for the human race."
Art Katz

"Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:16-18).

There is a danger that we will dismiss this as a kind of biblical rhetoric, as a kind of fanciful manner of speaking peculiar to Paul, and nod with a kind of acquiescence that it has a sweet sound to it, but completely lose what is being said.

The foundation of the apostolic mind-set is a true apprehension of the things that are eternal, not in anticipation of a future enjoyment, but of a present appropriation, and that is what makes the church peculiar. We have no idea how important the subject of eternity is. To lose the meaning of this word is to lose everything. It is to condemn the church to being mundane and ordinary, institutional and mechanical, a weariness of the flesh, instead of a joy and a power. In other words, the absence of eternity in the consciousness of the church disfigures and nullifies it as being church. We are going to have to contend for this word because the world is not hospitable to it. Paul not only found this eternal dimension, but he dwelt in it, and yet that did not condemn him to irrelevancy. On the contrary, it made him all the more relevant, and so will it make us also.

"No man can give a definitive and comprehensive summation of the whole genius of the word apostolic, but let this be a broad guideline and statement, so that it might enter our contemplation and change our conduct."

Teaching: A Moral Vocation
"I am happy to have this opportunity to share with you and I appreciate the fact that this is on your own time and that you would rather be home because I myself was a teacher for seven years, a history teacher in California. I was a Marxist radical for four years in the school system with the mindset that we need a revolution. I took a year’s absence and when I came back to teaching, I was a Christian. I lost all my friends and became more radical than I had ever been as a Marxist, and this affected all that generation of students."

One of the dangers of the Last Days are the presumptuous apostles who throw their weight around and who seem to have a measure of authority and knowledge that seems to impress the undiscerning. There is, fortunately, one measure of authenticity that cannot be feigned or emulated, namely, true meekness. Meekness is not something that one learns at school, but something attained under the hand of God in union with Him who is meekness, to men who have been called up to ascend ‘the Mount.’ It can only be given out of a man’s proximity with God, who Himself is meek and lowly of heart. Meekness or humility cannot be obtained in any other way.
Art Katz

We have many men today who are glib and who know how to play on words, and have made careers out of having an ability to speak. If you are attractive, have a gift of gab, and a certain kind of administrative ability and a certain winsomeness with men, then you can go far in the religious world today. True preaching, however, cannot come from this world. Preaching is altogether a divine and supernatural phenomenon. It is the word of life. It quickens the dead. The hearing of it constitutes an "event." It sets in motion things that have a myriad of consequences. It has a power and a life unto itself. It is a word that is sent.

It is an ultimate, classic and eternal confrontation and collision, and therefore every element in this text and everything that the Spirit of God is expressing through Paul to men is not only powerfully pertinent in that express moment, but it continues to reverberate throughout all time and history and even to this hour. It actually might be said that it is more pungent and more significant now at the conclusion of time and history, than it was two thousand years ago when Paul spoke it. The elements are the same. Nothing has changed.

Apostolic Conversion
Pretext or Reality?

This is the verbatim transcript of a message given in 1993 to an American congregation of a spiritually impressive kind. That is to say, that it had all the appearances of a committed body, serious in the Lord, and whose lively worship seemed to testify of its abounding health. Nevertheless, after two nights of meetings, I felt, as the speaker, an increasing sense of despair that not much had been transacted and that if the Lord did not radically intervene there would be little point in continuing.

This message was given on the third night, having spent the day in fasting and earnest intercessory prayer. With hardly a single exception, the entire congregation went down on their faces at its conclusion in a depth of groaning and intensive seeking of the Lord.

Table of Contents
Apostolic and Prophetic Foundations
An Apostolic Manifesto
Prophetic Reflections
Prophetic Reflections for the Last Days
What ought we to be about in God in the Last Days?
True and False Prophets

A Compilation of 12 Messages
Table of Contents
1: A Message for the Earnest Seeker
2: An Addendum On Righteousness
3: At the Age of Twelve
4: Born from Above
5: Holiness – The High Calling of God in Christ Jesus
6: On Adolescence
7: One Thing You Lack
8: Righteousness in the Old Testament
9: Some Thoughts on Romans 10
10: Some Thoughts on the Nature of Sin
11: The Lord’s Coming in the Clouds
12: Virtue, Power and Healing

The Melchizedek Priesthood
An edited transcript
"I want to begin to look at the expression of the priesthood in the future. There is clearly an Ezekiel temple. In Ezekiel 40 and from there on, it talks about the configuration of such a temple, its lineaments and its proportions. It is given in such remarkable detail that it is hard to imagine it being just an allegory. Surely it must be something actual and that will exist in the redeemed Israel. Some believers have a difficulty with that because it talks about the restoration of sacrifices performed by priests.

"Just as the history of sacrifice prepared Israel for the Lamb that would come without spot or blemish, and whose blood would be shed as a once-and-for-all, it is quite possible that a sacrificial ministry would be resumed in the millennial Israel, not to replace that sacrifice of the Lamb, but to be a memorial and reminder, to bring us back to a deepened appreciation of what has been given. It cannot be a substitute, and will detract nothing from the efficacy of the Lamb’s sacrifice, but rather enhance it."
Art Katz

That is the genius of David, of what is Davidic, and why he is beloved of the Father. The depth of this Psalm, the cry of it, that such a man – the sweet singer of Israel who faced Goliath single-handedly with a sling and stones, the one who brought the Ark of God to Jerusalem with sacrifice, worship and dancing – should fall shamefully into adultery and murder. He was the greatest of Israel’s kings, and the one whose name the Father is not ashamed to ascribe even to Jesus as the ‘greater David’. It is staggering to contemplate that this man should fall into the most horrible conjunction of sins, the one hand-in-hand with the other – this giant, this holy man, this lover of God, who stood for the honor of God, who would not allow that the armies of God be defamed and mocked by a pagan, a Philistine.

"I was having an interesting conversation with my brother Mark before we came tonight. It’s something that traveling evangelists don’t confess to each other, but its explains why their sleep is so frequently disrupted. All the more as their message is earnest and touches heaven.

"They (evangelists) are roasted in the night hours. Sexual provocation, the enemy playing on any slight wisp of vulnerability, this stubborn thing that will not let go, this thing that polite Christianity will not discuss, this thing that we cover up and look the other way and will not bring to the light, for which reason we suffer terrible harassment, was the subject of our conversation."

Gabrielle Paris Grant has it all in-regards to material things. The things she wants most is a Godly husband and her baby. Her and her husband Ronnie Grant is at war with each other and they are missing out on everything that is good. Gabrielle has never been in love with another man until she meets Diego Davis a handsome white man. She promised to never date a man outside of her culture. What is a woman to do when there’s temptation all over! Will she stay married or will she give into temptation? Will God save her and Ronnie’s marriage?

Lakita was told that she wasn’t good enough to write and to speak in front of others. She went from a Sales Associate to C.E.O. of her own company. If you believe that you aren’t good enough, then this book is for you. If you think that you have to stay where you are, then this book may not be for you. If you have given up on the miracles of God, this book is for you. If you have a mental or physical disability, this book is for you. Enjoy this personal story by Lakita T. Sharpe and be tuned in to her insights.

I am so happy and pleased that you have decided to pick up my book. You couldn’t have made a better decision.

We are so happy about getting married but not understanding that with marriage comes sacrifice and a lot of hard work. Think about it. Two people are coming together to make a marriage work. Two bodies; two minds; two souls. If you want a successful marriage then you have to do some individual work on your part. So, sit back and relax and I’m going to share with you my knowledge and wisdom that I’ve learned about being in a 19-year relationship. Make sure you find a place where it’s quiet so that you can relax and take this advice in. I love you. Much love and success in your new marriage - or renewed marriage if you’re just brushing up on your knowledge.

Love, Lakita T. Sharpe

"Although the Bible contains so much about the warfare of God’s people, and although we as His people may have had much teaching on the subject, it would probably be true to say that we have largely failed to apply the instruction we have received—to situations, to circumstances, to happenings; and that this accounts for many of our troubles, individually and collectively. While there is much for which the enemy is not to be blamed as the first cause, but which is due rather to our own foolishness or un-guardedness — our own faults — yet there is still very much more that is attributable to his interest, to his interference, to his action. Our need today is not so much to be informed as to the reality of spiritual conflict — we know that to be a fact! — as to be more alive to the extra factor lying behind situations, the situations with which we are trying, with so little success, to cope. We try to cope with things, as though they were everything, and so often we miss their real underlying significance.
"What we need, therefore, is understanding and wisdom —for wisdom means the ability to apply knowledge —wisdom as to this whole spiritual campaign, our warfare and its principles. But let me say at once: we are not embarking upon a study of Satan, or demons, or demonology! It is a very favorite trap of the enemy to get people occupied and obsessed with himself, and, by the help of God, we are not going to fall into that. Our object is to study spiritual warfare itself, as viewed mainly from the Lord’s side." T. A-S.

"Some time before these messages were given, desiring to be quiet and away from many things, I went down into the country with my heart very much to the Lord for His word. In the early hours of the morning it seemed as though the heavens opened and everything became alive: it all opened up wonderfully, and centered in one phrase – 'Pioneers of the Heavenly Way.' That really does sum up the verses that we have just read, and, while we are going to think and perhaps say much about the heavenly way, it is this matter of pioneering the heavenly way that will be our main concern. It is necessary, to begin with, for us to consider to some extent the heavenly way itself, but I repeat that it is this whole tremendous business of pioneering that way that I believe to be the main concern of the Lord, and hence of ourselves, at this time."
T. A-S.

The clause in the thirteenth verse (of Col. 3) very largely represents what has been laid on my heart for this time: "The Son of his love"; then that which follows, the position which He occupies according to the will of the Father - "He is before all things, and in him all things consist" and He in all things having the pre-eminence: then, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." I think we can well sum up all that in the phrase "The Centrality and Supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ," and with that be wholly occupied for the rest of our lives, not only for this present time.

And so it is upon the centrality and supremacy of the Son of God's love that we shall dwell as the Lord will enable us. The Word of God brings into view four spheres in which that thought and purpose of God concerning the Son of His love is to be realized. There is the sphere of the believer's own individual life; then secondly, there is the sphere of the Church which is His Body; in the third place there is the sphere of the kingdoms of this world, the nations of the earth; and in the fourth place He is to be central and supreme in the whole universe, heaven and earth and what is under the earth.

We may not be able, in the time which we have in these days, to reach unto all those spheres and see what the Word of God has to say about the Lord Jesus in relation thereto, but we shall move as the Lord enables and at least take the first one or two of those spheres. But before coming to the first of them may I remind you also that the centrality and supremacy of the Lord Jesus is the pivot and the key to all the Scriptures.
T. A-S

To my readers I would say that, although the main subject of the tripartite nature of man is such a controversial one, this book is not entered as a part of the controversy. Such a course would only be to contradict its main contention—that Divine things can only be entered into by revelation and never by reason. Indeed, I have no wish that anyone should read this book unless they are really exercised about reality and spiritual things. I would ask for openness of heart as the one concession to the Spirit of truth if, peradventure, He might be ready to use what is written here for enlightenment.

"No claim is made to any expert knowledge. The contents represent more the result of observation and experience amongst Christian people over a wide area during a good number of years, than of study of the subject itself."

T. A-S.

That something being absolutely essential to God's full satisfaction, the dominant note of the Prophet was one of dissatisfaction. And, there being the additional factor that, for obvious reasons, the people were not disposed to go the costly way of God's full purpose, the Prophet was usually an unpopular person.

But his unpopularity was no proof of his being wrong or unnecessary, for every Prophet was eventually vindicated, though with very great suffering and shame to the people.

1.Grace as a Ground of Confidence and Assurance
2.Grace in Conduct
3.Grace in Character
4.The Source of All Grace

"It is when faith is tried, when circumstances are difficult—they speak evil against you falsely, and other things are present which create a set of difficult circumstances—when you are suffering for conscience' sake, and when you are assaulted by the enemy who goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (v. 8); then remember that the God of all grace called you, and so there is grace for everything, for all situations and all demands. It seems as though 1:2 is the spring, then there is the stream breaking out in its varied applications and meanings and values, and then it seems as though all converge into the sea—the God of all grace; the spring, the distribution over the whole land to meet every situation, and then the coming back and flowing into the great ocean—the God of all grace for all situations."
T.A-S.

"If it is true that all the distress, disruption, discord, and misery through the ages is to be attributed to this divided worship, then the new creation, the new and joyous order prophesied in the Scriptures, will come about, or will be realized, on the sole basis of God being 'all in all.' This has its rise in every individual in whom divided allegiance is ended. It takes its larger and corporate form in the Church 'which he purchased [for this purpose] with his own blood.' This, again, is the motive and dynamic of every Holy Spirit-initiated and energized movement of the Evangel and it gives meaning to all His urges to holy living, loving fellowship, patient enduring, and spiritual warfare.

God has summed up and centered all things in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. This means that Christianity is not a number of things as in themselves, such as beliefs, doctrines, dogmas, practices, forms, rites, orders, or virtues. It is not salvation, regeneration, sanctification, power, life, joy, peace, etc, as things; it is just Himself…

"That word 'ordained' is a very interesting word. It is the Greek word from which we get our English word 'horizon.' It means, basically, to set bounds or limits, to mark out a defined or determined realm. In this passage, the Man is the realm, the marked out limit, the defined sphere in which God will judge the world. It is suggestive that the phrase in the original Greek is, literally, 'IN the man.' (Compare 1 Cor. 6:2: 'if the world shall be judged IN you.') Everything is to be brought for its judgment into the realm of what this Man is. Everything and everyone will be judged according to the significance of the Man whom He has ordained."
T. Austin-Sparks

It is a grand thing and a source of tremendous strength to come to the same position as that of Christ as Man, where we know that boundless heavenly resources are available. I think we only come there progressively, and not all at once. We only come there by the way of discipline - discipline which takes the form of bringing us to an utter dependence but which is yet not an emptying and a breaking down as an end in itself, but one which is accompanied by that grace of God - that graciousness of God - which, when we are empty, makes His fullness to abound.

There is a positive as well as a negative side. God is no believer in negatives as being the ultimate goal; but when He breaks and when He empties, He does something on the positive side which ever causes us to marvel, and we have to say every time: Well, that was the Lord, not ourselves. We come progressively by that way of discipline to know that there are heavenly resources which far outstrip all human possibilities, and these resources are operative.

What is a Christian?
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
What a Christian is Not
(1) To become a Christian is not to become 'religious', or to adopt a new 'religion'.
(2) To become a Christian is not to join an institution called 'The Church'.
(3) To become a Christian is not to become a part of a new movement.
What a Christian Is
(1) "Who art thou?" "I am Jesus."
(2) "What wilt thou have me to do, Lord?"
(3) "Christ in you".
Chapter 2
1. Something Absolutely Personal
2. Christianity - Not a Religion, but a Person

In approaching this matter of the candlestick of pure gold, we do so from a more distant point. We stand back, withdrawn. I think that we are all conscious of a growing sense of need among the Lord's people for a new spiritual position. It may not be universal or general, but it is something which we are meeting a good deal in these days, and, when you come to think about it, it is a thing which marks the Word of God throughout - that is, a challenge to reach a new place. You find it in the Word, you find it in subsequent history. Even when the Lord's people are in the right way or in the right direction, this need is constantly brought before them - the urge not to stay there, not to rest there, but to move on. That is very true in a general way as to the spiritual history of the Lord's people and all the ways of the Lord with His people - constantly challenging, constantly creating a sense of need to reach some position which has not been reached, or, it may be in some cases, to recover a position from which they have receded.

But among ourselves (and when I say ourselves, I mean those of us who have been related here in this ministry, in what we have often called this testimony) this sense is growing - a sense of the need of coming to a new spiritual place. One and another has expressed that to me during these past months particularly - 'I must get to a new place with the Lord, I must somehow get to a new position.' It is expressed in different ways, but what lies behind it is this sense that we are being exercised, wrought upon, and that prevailing conditions are forcing us to this. We must somehow get to a new spiritual place. I think that many of you will find a response to that in your own hearts.

T. Austin-Sparks

The word "cannot" stands written as an impassable barrier - "cannot understand or receive the things of the Spirit of God." In reality, our lives are set in a realm of things spiritual. God is Spirit, therefore the supreme Reality, the supreme factor, the ultimate environment of this universe - God - is Spirit. Man, in the deepest and truest nature of his being, is spirit. He has a soul and a body. Evil forces in great power encircle man on this earth, and they are spiritual forces. But more, the entire temporal order is constituted upon spiritual principles and meanings. The visible things are but symbols of spiritual things; the seen things are types of unseen things. God has constituted this whole universe, in every aspect and detail, upon a basis of spiritual principles; they are tokens of something more than themselves.

It embraces the counsels of the Godhead before the world was — it embraces the creation; it embraces redemption; it embraces the final glory. All that is in the face of Jesus Christ. Indeed, there is nothing which concerns us, as creatures related to God and eternity, which is not to be found in the face of Jesus Christ. God comes to us in the face of Jesus Christ, and all that ever we shall or can know of God is to be found in the face of Jesus Christ. The face is the human medium of communication. The face is the medium of personality.

The personality is the character formed in secret, the sum of all secret history, and it embraces itself in the face. Sooner or later, somehow, the personality will betray itself in the face. But in order to read the personality through the face, there has to be a certain amount of qualification. You cannot off hand read a person through their face. You need to have certain ability to do so. If all that is of God is in the face of Jesus Christ, there has to be given revelation in our hearts, as well as in His face. We have to be able to see the face of Jesus Christ.

All that is but a wide and sweeping survey or intimation of what the face of Jesus represents. It must be brought nearer to our hearts in a practical way, but I want to remind you of this before we go further, that it has ever been by reason of a vision of the face of Jesus Christ, that God has secured lives and instruments which have reflected His own glory.
T. A-S

1. An Earthly Objective with Heavenly Significance
2. The Objective - The Church and its Heavenly Function
3. The Objective Divinely Conceived
4. Mistaken Human Attempts to Reach the Objective
5. Divine Sovereignty Ruling and Overruling
6. God's Objective not Frustrated by Human Frailty
7. The Break-up of all that is of Man
8. God's Objective Certain of Ultimate Attainment

"I have found the Lord putting it into my heart quite strongly to say something about the service of God; and I think we can gather it under that first clause - 'Behold, my servant.' Of course, here the words are prophetically related to the Lord Jesus. There is no doubt about that, because they are actually quoted in the twelfth chapter of the Gospel by Matthew, verses 17 and 18 - '...that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, Behold, my servant whom I have chosen; my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased'; and there are other passages in the New Testament which are a repetition, in part of these very words."

1. Every Dispensation Governed by Faith
2. The Basis of Faith
3. The Nature of Faith
4. The Issue of Faith

he human race, as a whole, failed to realize this grand design, but the testimony was taken up by individual witnesses, like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and others. In a very real sense the testimony of the glory of God rested on their shoulders; they carried the enormous responsibility of being here on the earth where the enemy had almost entirely succeeded in marring or veiling that glory. These lonely figures were the men who stood for the preservation of that testimony to God's glory. Then the testimony passed from individuals to a nation, when Israel was brought into being to be a corporate vessel of the divine testimony, a people in whom the glory of God could be displayed. Ultimately Israel failed, so the testimony was transferred and passed on to the Church, consisting of Israelites to whom Gentiles were later added. The glory of God certainly blazed up anew in the Church at the beginning. In the course of time, speaking generally, the Church has also failed, and it is not without significance that one of the seven churches of Asia was threatened with an entire removal of its lampstand. The article, however beautiful in itself, has no significance by its mere form or profession, but only as the light of God blazes out from it. This is what God is always seeking, the display of His glory in and through His people.

The great concern and business of the Church is to be a testimony to God's glory. The one plumb-line which measured Jerusalem was that of the glory of God in the midst (Zechariah 2:8), and this measurement is what matters for us today. The final judgment will be based on the degree of glory found in our lives. Nothing else will be of lasting importance. Those who have lived most of their lives already and perhaps been active for God, still do well to face this challenge concerning God's glory, and those who are only just beginning should know the real standard for all Christian living. We may well wonder how it can be. Zechariah had the same problem in his day, and this vision gave him - and us - the answer: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts".

"Called. Chosen. Faithful."
1. The Call of God
2. The Cost of the Calling

"These shall war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they also shall overcome that are with him, called and chosen and faithful." Revelation 17:14.

There is a sense in which these three words represent a graduation from one plane and sphere of probation to another. While we may be "chosen in Him before the foundation of the world," it is also true that in the matter of trusted service and honoured intimacy with God the choice is from those who "make their calling and election sure."

God's Faithfulness to Us in His Son
1. God's Faithfulness Based Upon His Love For His Son
2. The Father's Attitude To Us in His Son
3. Faithful to Conform to the Image of His Son
4. Faithful in Leading Into Afore Prepared Good Works
5. Faithful in Fulfillment of Vocation
6. The Ground of Rest

"God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord".

That comprehensive statement means that God's faithfulness is based upon His love for His own Son; His faithfulness to us is because of His faithfulness to Him. Because of the fellowship with His Son into which He has called us, we enter into that faithfulness. That means much. It raises the very big question - which question, of course, we ought never to entertain - as to whether the Father would ever be unfaithful to His Son. We have a fairly solid block of Scripture to establish the nature of the relationship between the Father and the Son, and the Father's estimate of the Son, which would certainly lead us to rule out any such question as to whether the Father would ever be unfaithful to the Son, would ever fail Him, would ever go back upon any promise to Him. That, of course, is unthinkable.

I have it on my heart, beloved, that these days before us we shall in the will of God, be occupied with "That which is born of the Spirit," or "The New Creation in Christ Jesus"; and this morning, for a little while, we want to set the object in its place, or in His place, and see exactly what it is toward which the Lord is moving; what we might call the pattern in the heavens.

We are familiar with that phrase, we know to what it relates in the Old Testament, and I think by now we know that that pattern in the heavens, according to which all things were made in relation to the tabernacle of old, was but a revelation of Jesus Christ, and that tabernacle was the Lord Jesus in His many-sidedness, right to the very last detail; an expression of the mind of God. We know that in the Letter to the Hebrews that is taken up again, but there this difference is made that, whereas in the Old Testament it was a pattern of things in the heavens, here it is the very things themselves and you are introduced to the very things by the first words of that letter, "God Who in old times spake unto the Fathers in divers portions and divers manners, hath in the end of these times spoken in His Son," and the whole theme of the Letter to the Hebrews is the Lord Jesus Christ as the consummation of the whole of the Old Testament revelation. He in Person gathering up consummately all that God had before spoken, and thus not being a part, or parts, but being the whole; not being a shadow or a type, but being the very thing itself.

So truly, the Lord Jesus is the pattern and the reality toward which God is working; and we want now, immediately, to get that Object into its, or His place, because until that is so we shall be held to something less; we shall have an inadequate objective and dynamic for our lives here on earth.

T. Austin-Sparks

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - The Bond-Servant
Chapter 2 - The Servant Spirit and the Servant Mind
The Servant Spirit and the Servant Mind
Chapter 3 - The Wise Master-Builder
Chapter 4 - The Gospel of the Wise Master-Builder
The Nature of the Gospel of the Wise Master-Builder
An Adequate Setting and Motive
An Adequate Dynamic
Chapter 5 - The Servant in Whom God Delights
The Cause of Failure is Idolatry; What is Idolatry?
Worldliness is Idolatry?
The Servant in whom the Lord Delights.
Blinded and Deafened by Devotion.
A Whole Burnt Offering.
Chapter 6 - The Service of the Lord
Hindrances in Service
“But Satan Hindered” (?)
Satan Buffeted
Satan Traduced
Rewards of Service
Reproach for Christ was His Present Riches
The Vital “How” and “What”

Reading: 2 Cor. 4:1-7

The first verse contains the little clause upon which everything in this letter hangs, "Therefore, seeing we have this ministry" - "This ministry." — We recognize that this letter is being written to the believers at Corinth, and one of the features of this letter, and the letters of Paul in general, is the way in which he unites those to whom he writes with himself, and himself with them, and makes it one matter. He is not saying, "Therefore, seeing I have this ministry." He is saying, we have this ministry, and if we just look back and on we will see how he brings them into oneness with himself. It is one of his great principles. It is basic to what the apostle is seeking to do, because these Corinthians had challenged him very seriously and raised many questions about him, some disputing his apostleship, and he has met with a good deal of suspicion and doubt and opposition. He is a man in the presence of people in the church who do not like him, and who do not want him, and who would rule him out and would prefer others to him, and he has to meet a difficulty like that. The difficulty that many ministers have had to meet. How are you going to meet people in the church who really do not like you, and do not want you, and are saying all kinds of things about you that are unworthy? An expression of the wisdom of the Holy Spirit is that He unites Himself to them and involves them in his own position and involves himself in theirs and deals with it as a common thing. Paul comes right down to them and speaks to them as though they were all facing common difficulties.

And so he says, "We have this ministry." Why I mention this is that we shall all recognize that we have this ministry. This does not belong to a certain set called "ministers" or "missionaries" in any official sense. It is the ministry of every child of God. It has its intensified forms in those who are separated unto the gospel in a special way, but we all have it. We are not thinking of "ministry" as some detached and hedged-around thing belonging to a certain class of people, but it is the whole house of God and the whole body of Christ. It is the ministry of every member, and every one of us in the ministry, and therefore these words apply to you in a very definite way. We have this ministry.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - Living "Before the Lord" and "Unto the Lord"
"Before the Lord"
"Unto the Lord"
Chapter 2 - Heart-Revelation of "the Mystery"
Two Mysteries
The Twofold Mystery of Christ
The Mystery Known Only by Revelation
The Church Heavenly and Corporate
Chapter 3 - Subjection to Christ as Head
Christ's Absolute Headship
Our Position in that Headship
Our Progress in the Position
The Practical Application of Christ's Headship
Chapter 4 - Living "In the Heavenlies"
The Limiting Effect of Things 'On the Earth'
Only Spiritual Value Counts with God
Knowledge of Christ in Heaven the Measure of Spiritual Value
Earthly Features Must Not Govern
Only Spiritual Values to Concern Us

Abounding in Love
First published in "A Witness and A Testimony" magazine, Jul-Aug 1948
"I Have Loved Thee"
From "The Work of the Ministry" - Volume 2
First published in "A Witness and A Testimony" magazine, May-Jun 1954

1 John 4:19 “We love because he first loved us.” (NIV) (Editor)

In the light of the Lord's coming, it is very important to be well instructed and to have all the light that the Lord can give us, but never let us think for one moment that light and truth and teaching are inevitably the building factors, for there are many people with a vast amount of truth and love who are not very large spiritually; they are very small, shrunken and closed up. It is love that builds. Moreover, it makes differences in those who exercise it, it brings them into rest.

1. Accrediting Linked to Sufferings
2. Discrediting Spiritual Ministry
3. Accrediting Linked to Sufferings
4. Accrediting Linked to Resurrection

1. Christ is a Heavenly Order
2. The Kingdom of God is Jesus Christ
3. Christ is a our Sanctification
4. A Personal Note

We take the Epistles and we think of them as having to do within the building of the Church and the churches, the superstructure of Christianity, and so we take the technique of the Acts and the Epistles as a technique, as a system of doctrine and a system of practice, a system of Christian order, and the Epistles become - and have become for so many and for Christianity in general - a crystallized system of practice, order, form, teaching; and the weakness in the whole position is just this, that that is something as in itself and the Lord Jesus has just been missed and lost.

1. Satan Knows Our Weakest Moment, and Uses It
2. Loneliness is a Part of the Price of Leadership

"I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord" (1 Kings 18:22); "I, even I only, am left" (1 Kings 19:10,14); "Yet will I leave me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal" (1 Kings 19:18); "Then he mustered... seven thousand" (1 Kings 20:15); "Elijah... a man of like passions (nature) with us" (James 5:17).

Most biographers seem to feel that it would harm their subjects, weaken the testimony, or do injury to the work to which they were called if they dwelt upon their human nature on its weakest side and pointed out when and where they broke down. There is also a mistaken kindness in this omission; the idea that, all of us being so faulty, we should never refer to the weaknesses of others. If the life was truly glorifying to God as a whole, and the work was really a work of God, it only enhances the grace of God to show how He was with, and blessed, such VERY human and imperfect vessels, and no one who really loves the Lord will take that fact as a cover and condemnation of repeated failures. At the same time it is true that God is the only One Who has the right to speak of human weaknesses, and everyone who does so under His direction must do it with deep humility and fear: the reason for this is recognized in such representative cases as Moses, Elijah, David, Peter, etc. Even in the case of Christ Himself, although He did NOT succumb, yet this factor held good, and in His case the fact is definitely shown. That factor is this: Satan knows our weakest moment, and uses It.

1. THE ALL-GOVERNING PASSION
2. THE EFFECTUAL POWER
3. THE ESSENTIAL BASIS
4. THE PROGRESSIVE PRINCIPLE

There are few words in his writings which reveal how committed to the Lord Jesus this man was. The whole context is one consummate outpouring of his heart to the One whom he said had "apprehended" him, and he focuses all in a brief half sentence: "That I may know him."

The impressive thing about this expressed ambition is the time at which it is made. Here is a man who has had a revelation and knowledge of Jesus Christ greater than any other man up to that time. That knowledge commenced whence as he said, "it pleased God to reveal his Son in me". That beginning devastated him, and sent him into the desert to try to grasp its implications. Later he had been "caught up into the third heaven and shownunspeakable things, which (he said) were not lawful to be uttered". Between, and around those two experiences, there is evidence of an ever growing knowledge of Christ. Here, after all that, near the end of his life, he is crying passionately: "That I may know him."

The very least that we can say about this is that the Christ in view was a very great Christ indeed, who outstrips the greatest capacity and comprehension of man. This stands in such tremendous contrast to the limited Christ of our recognition and apprehension! How very much more there is in Christ than we have ever seen! But we must break down our verse. It is divided by its main words, and can be stated in its four phrases.

(1) The all-governing passion: "That I may know him."

(2) The effectual power: "The power of his resurrection."

(3) The essential basis: "The fellowship of his sufferings."

(4) The progressive principle: "Conformed to his death."

1. The Strength of the City
2. The Beauty of the City
3. The Costliness of the City

It’s a problem, the sufferings of the Lord’s people, but if Paul is right, here’s the answer: “Our light affliction which is but for a moment…” and you can only talk like that if you can see the other, the rest: “that worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” eternal weight of glory! That is the end, the object, the goal. Our light affliction; it isn’t light at all, it is very heavy affliction unless we can see what the Lord is after and then perhaps affliction will be seen in a different way.

So here we are: costliness. The Lord is after this true value and when He gets that, these characteristics, when He gets them - strength and beauty and real preciousness, costliness - the process will be fully justified.

1. Different Categories of Spiritual Greatness
2. A Question of Attaining
3. Marks of Supreme Greatness
(A) The Perception of God's Full Thought
(B) A Sense of Responsibility
(C) Spiritual Stamina
(D) Inclusively - Standing For The Fullness of Christ
4. A Way of Faith

We are not so much concerned at the moment with the details of the exploits of these three men as with the fact that David had a number of mighty men who came to him when he was in the stronghold in the wilderness, shut up because of Saul, and that the thirty chief men were divided into groups, each group representing a standard. The thirty were, shall we say, of one more or less general standard of excellence, and then they were divided into smaller groups, each of which represented a higher standard of excellence, until we arrive at the three named above, who are called the first three. Of all the others it is said that they attained not unto the first three. The point which I want to deal with is that of attaining unto pre-eminence in the estimation of the Lord.

Why was this story written? Why have we the record of these men and their feats of strength? Do you think it is just to include in the Bible some thrilling stories of wonderful things that certain men did? Sometimes some of them seem almost phenomenal. But do you think that the record is here just for that purpose? If the Bible is written really on the basis of spiritual principles and not just to record human stories, earthly things, there is something which is spiritual behind everything.

1. Sovereignty in Relation to a Remnant
(a) Heart Hunger for God's Full Thought
(b) Provision to Satisfy Hunger
(c) Life Sovereignly Directed and Controlled
2. God's People in Babylon
(a) A Heart-Hungry Remnant
(b) Divine Sovereignty at Work
(c) Human Faithfulness in Response
3. A Challenge to be Faced
4. God's Sovereign Provision for Times of Declension
5. The Implication - God's Full Thought is Attainable

Supposing God had, and has, in His heart and mind a certain fullness of purpose which He has determined shall find expression by means of a people on this earth, and when it comes to the test, that people as a whole and in general fail Him. He never for an instant contemplates giving up one iota of His main purpose, and yet He has known all along that that people in the first instance would fail Him. He therefore resolved that in the failure of the whole people at that time, He would proceed to secure to Himself from among them another company, maybe smaller in number, who would respond to Him in His fuller desire. As He foreknew the whole and called them, so He foreknew these. In His eternal counsels He has His eye upon them and they are to Him - not an elect of the elect but the first ripe fruit of His husbandry, a kind of first expression of His thoughts concerning all the rest. On such a supposition what would you think would be some of the things that He would do in the case of such a company?

1. The Travail for the Man-Child
2. The Power of the Blood is Primarily in its Incorruptibility
3. The "Overcomer" Stands on the Ground of the Perfections of Christ, and Meets the "Accuser" by Faith's Appropriation Thereof
4. Satanic Tyranny Through Self-Occupation Broken by a Right Apprehension of the Blood
5. The Blood Represents Total Separation to God
6. The Paralysis of a Divided Heart
7. Losing the Crown
8. The Blood is a Weapon to be Wielded

Now first of all, beloved, I want to gather together several things which I believe represent the significance of that statement, that to which the statement belongs. I am one of those who believe (I do not ask you to believe it because I do, but that you will go to the Lord with open hearts about it) that the man-child of this chapter represents a company of the Lord's people at the end-time who, in a peculiar way, stand in the fullness of the virtue and power of the Blood of the Lord Jesus; and, as we have often said, we believe that it is that people, that company, the man-child, that God in a special way is seeking to secure for Himself at this time; the thing which, in the midst of other things, He is peculiarly, particularly concerned to bring into being. It is a company called into a peculiar relationship to the Lord Himself for the fulfillment of a priestly ministry in relation to the universal kingdom of our God and His Christ - and I use the word "universal" there with care; not just an earthly aspect of that kingdom, but also the heavenly aspect.

We must understand that there are two sides to the kingdom; there is the earthly side and there is the heavenly side. There will be those who are in the earthly side who will not be in the heavenly side, but there will not be any in the heavenly side who are not in the earthly side. Get the heavenly side and you get both. This particular company, the man-child company, is, in the purpose of God, to be brought into relation to Him for the fulfillment of a priestly ministry in relation to the universal kingdom of our God and His Christ; a priestly ministry, in relation to the kingdom and the throne, the universal sovereignty of the Lord Jesus; an administrative instrument in heaven, to rule with Him, from the heavens, the whole range of His dominion.